Imane Khelif

Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)StanceOrthodox

Imane Khelif (Arabic: إيمان خليف, romanized: ʾĪmān Khalīf, Arabic: [ʔiːˈmaːn xaˈliːf]; born 2 May 1999) is an Algerian professional boxer. She won the gold medal in the women's welterweight event at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Following Khelif's victory over Italy's Angela Carini during the 2024 Olympic Games, misinformation surfaced on social media about her gender and eligibility to compete. False claims that Khelif is male were fuelled by Khelif's disqualification from the 2023 Women's World Boxing Championships, organised by the Russian-led International Boxing Association (IBA) after she allegedly failed unspecified gender eligibility tests.^[1][2][3] The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its Paris Boxing Unit stated Khelif was eligible to compete in the Olympics and criticized the IBA's previous disqualification as "sudden and arbitrary" and taken "without any due process".^[4] Khelif was born female,^[5][6] and no medical evidence that she has XY chromosomes or elevated levels of testosterone has been published.^[7][8][9]

Khelif was born in Aïn Sidi Ali, Laghouat Province.^[10][11] When she was two months old, her family moved to Biban Mesbah, a rural village in Tiaret Province, where she would grow up.^[12][13]

In an interview with Reuters, her father stated, "Imane is a little girl that has loved sport since she was six-years-old."^[14] She originally played football before switching to boxing. In her early years, she had to commute to Tiaret to attend training sessions, and sold bread and scrap metal to afford the bus fare.^[12][15][16] She stated that her father initially did not allow her to participate in the sport because "he did not approve of boxing for girls".^[17]

At the 2018 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships, Khelif finished 17th in the women's lightweight event after being eliminated in the first round by Karina Ibragimova.^{[18][better source needed]} At the 2019 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships, she finished 33rd in the women's lightweight event after being eliminated in the first round by Natalia Shadrina.^{[15][19][better source needed]}

In March 2021, she won a gold medal at the Istanbul Bosphorus International Boxing Tournament, defeating Anastasia Belyakova in the final of the women's lightweight event.^{[20][better source needed][21]}

She represented Algeria in the women's lightweight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics,^[22] where she was defeated by Ireland's Kellie Harrington in the quarterfinals.^[23][24] She was the first female boxer to represent Algeria at the Olympics.^[10]

In February 2022, Khelif won a gold medal at the Strandja Memorial Tournament after defeating Nataliya Sychugova in the final of the women's 63 kg event.^{[25][better source needed][26]}

Khelif was selected as Algeria's flagbearer at the 2022 IBA Women's World Boxing Championships.^[27] At the tournament, she became the first Algerian female boxer to reach the final after defeating Chelsey Heijnen.^[28] She was then defeated by Amy Broadhurst in the final and finished runner-up.^[29][30] Later that year, Khelif saw further success, winning gold medals at the Mediterranean Games and the African Amateur Boxing Championships.^[31][32]

In March 2023, Khelif competed for the gold medal in the finals at the IBA Women's World Boxing Championships; however, she was disqualified shortly before her gold medal bout against People's Republic of China boxer Yang Liu. The disqualification came amid allegations from the Russian-led International Boxing Association's (IBA) that Khelif had failed unspecified eligibility tests.^[33] This disqualification happened three days after Khelif defeated Azalia Amineva [ru], a previously unbeaten Russian prospect. The disqualification restored the Russian boxer's undefeated record.^[33] According to the Algerian Olympic Committee, Khelif was disqualified due to medical reasons.^[34][35] Uzbekistani boxer Navbakhor Khamidova was awarded the bronze medal over Khelif.^[36]

In 2023, Umar Kremlev, president of the IBA, said that the disqualifications were because DNA tests "proved they had XY chromosomes".^[37][7] The Washington Post stated, "It remains unclear what standards Khelif and Lin Yu-ting failed [in 2023] to lead to the disqualifications",^[7][37] further writing, "There never has been evidence that [...] Khelif [...] had XY chromosomes or elevated levels of testosterone."^[7] The IBA did not reveal the testing methodology, stating the "specifics remain confidential".^[38] At the time, Khelif said the ruling meant having "characteristics that mean I can't box with women", but said she was the victim of a "big conspiracy" regarding the disqualification.^[39] She initially appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport but the appeal was terminated since Khelif couldn't pay the procedural costs.^[17][40]

On 31 July 2024, regarding their 2023 decision, the IBA stated that Khelif and others "did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential", and further alleged that they "were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors".^{[41][better source needed]} The following day, the IOC released their own statement in response, stating that the IBA's decision was "sudden and arbitrary" and "without any due process". IOC further stated:

According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO. The IBA Board only ratified it afterward and only subsequently requested that a procedure to follow in similar cases in the future be established and reflected in the IBA Regulations. The minutes also say that the IBA should "establish a clear procedure on gender testing".^[4]

In July 2023, four months after the IBA Championships disqualification, Khelif represented Algeria at the Arab Games, where she won a gold medal in the women's welterweight event.^[42]

In November 2023, she announced that she was turning professional;^[43] her first professional fight took place in Singapore that month.^[44]

In January 2024, Khelif became a UNICEF national ambassador.^[15][17] In April, she won the women's 66 kg event at the World Boxing Cup in Pueblo, Colorado, U.S., defeating Emilie Sonvico in the final.^[45][46]

The boxing events in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics were managed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Paris 2024 Boxing Unit.^[37] The IBA had been suspended by the IOC in 2019 due to governance issues under prior leadership; since then, Olympic boxing has been overseen by an IOC task force.^[47][48] The IOC cleared Khelif to compete in Paris, confirming that she complied with all necessary eligibility and medical regulations for the event.^[35][49] While the IOC does not test athletes for gender,^{[7][clarification needed]} it stated that all athletes competing in Paris comply with the competition's eligibility and entry regulation, and that Khelif "was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport".^[50][4] Later, the IOC confirmed receiving the letter from the IBA in June 2023, and stated that "from the conception of the test, to how the test was shared with us, to how the tests have become public, is so flawed that it's impossible to engage with it".^[51]

During the IBA press conference in Paris on 5 August 2024, the organization's position and its president, Umar Kremlev, regarding the nature of the conducted tests changed and became contradictory. Initially, the IBA claimed that sex verification tests were conducted. Still, at the conference, Secretary General Chris Roberts spoke of "chromosome tests", while Kremlev asserted that the tests aimed to determine testosterone levels in athletes. The situation was exacerbated by Kremlev's statements, who repeatedly criticized IOC President Thomas Bach, declared his intention to initiate legal proceedings against him, and expressed dissatisfaction with the Olympic Games opening ceremony, calling it "humiliating".^{[52][53][54][55]} The IBA claimed to have used laboratories accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for testing, but WADA denied involvement in sex verification, stating it deals solely with anti-doping matters.^[54]

Seeded fifth in the women's 66 kg (welterweight) event,^[56] Khelif defeated Hungary's Luca Hámori in the quarterfinals on 3 August.^[57][58] She then defeated Thailand's Janjaem Suwannapheng in the semifinals on 6 August, guaranteeing her at least a silver medal in the event.^[59][60] On 9 August, she defeated Yang Liu of China in the final to win the gold medal.^[61][62] Khelif became Algeria's first female gold medalist in boxing, as well as the country's first boxer of any gender to win a medal since Mohamed Allalou in 2000^[63] and the first to win a gold medal since Hocine Soltani in 1996.^[61][64]

Khelif's win came after she faced intense public scrutiny over her eligibility to compete in the women's category, including from celebrities and world leaders. Khelif became the target of online abuse and misinformation, including the false claim that that she is a man.^{[3][65][66][67][68]} In response, Khelif said that the backlash she received "harms human dignity" and called for an end to the bullying of athletes.^[69] Khelif filed a criminal complaint in France against unspecified individuals for cyberbullying, naming in it J. K. Rowling and Elon Musk among others.^[70][71][72]

As the fifth seed, Khelif received a bye into the second round.^[73] In the second round, held on 1 August, she defeated Angela Carini of Italy 46 seconds after the match commenced, when Carini withdrew after receiving two blows, citing intense pain in her nose. Carini reportedly exclaimed, "It's not fair!" after a punch from Khelif. Because of this, Khelif received online backlash from those who questioned her gender.^[74]

The next day, Carini apologized to Khelif via the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, stating, "All this controversy makes me sad [...] I'm sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision."^[75][76] The Algerian Olympic Committee (COA) defended Khelif, stating before the match that Khelif had been the victim of "unethical targeting" and "baseless propaganda", and that they had taken "all necessary measures" to protect Khelif and her right to compete.^[17]

Khelif's father, in a statement to Sky Sports, stated, "My child is a girl. She was raised as a girl. She's a strong girl. I raised her to be hard-working and brave. She has a strong will to work and to train."^[77] At a news conference on 3 August 2024, IOC President Thomas Bach defended the participation of Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, saying, "There was never any doubt about them being a woman."^[78] He further reaffirmed that Khelif was born a woman and denounced hate speech against her.^[50]

• Caster Semenya, South African middle-distance runner, made to undergo sex testing in 2009

• Imane Khelif at BoxRec (registration required)
• Imane Khelif at Olympics.com
• Imane Khelif at Olympedia